But the swollen right lower leg leaving constant dull pain and inflexible knee, burnt bald head, hangover and possible cold all in one combo have me feeling worse than I've ever felt I think. At least it's an excuse to really relax for a few days now.
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JWOC Relay - Men's Leg 2
...because once Alex had finished in a very nice position, my legs weren't ready to move once I hit the forest. Nearly instadropped by NOR 2 but legs woke up after a long track leg to 1. Potentially longer route but was too far in when I realised so tried to own it instead. Became very cautious though when I was alone and not too sure how far along the path.
Spiked it though and then hit 2 as a train of SUI, FIN, FRA and NOR 2 approached. Joint to 3 and correctly sensed it was common, but couldn't help but notice my compass was fixed on pointing west! Hesitated for a moment thinking I had blown it but then thought about it and knew the compass was faulty.
Struggled keeping up with the train and nearly blew number 5 by spotting a control too early on, but then headed to arena in a fast moving train. A little bit dropped as we entered but then legs awoke and I was chasing down RUS and FIN 2 who had now been caught. Hit number 8 confidently and was enjoying watching half the pack realise it wasn't their control. Ran off with RUS and NOR 2 once more, and then played around with a few routes trying to overtake in that way before the finish. Caught NOR 2 but RUS ran away with what should have been a slower route to 11...
Finished feeling better than when I had started and happy with the race. Not the fastest but the shape of the legs in the first half really let me down a bit I think. Unfortunate to watch Nathan live his nightmare after me but it happens every year and I'm not sure anyone in the team would hold such a position with some big names chasing for podium. They'll crack it one year....

JWOC Long - 7th
Stable performance. Happy with my orienteering throughout and just a few lazy slips technically when I began to bonk at the end of the phi loop. Slipped and banged my knee again at the start of the long leg which perked me up. Helped by a gel half way through the leg and winning the split probably provided the highlight of my last 14 years of orienteering. Began to fade towards the end but kept pushing to the expected winning time. Unfortunately not good enough but another top ten gives a set of results I couldn't have even imagined only 3 days ago. Very pleased.
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JWOC Sprint - 5th, +17s
Good stuff! Even with one horrific route to no.8 perhaps costing a medal. What's worse is that I noticed before beginning the leg but failed to correct myself, thinking it couldn't be that bad... EDIT - in reply to nopesport, yes I believe it was a control flow trap.

However, 3rd(?) sprint race this year and with minimal geeking and specific training, I'll happily take this result. I even feel that it could be my optimal approach to sprint racing.

Really nice experience being up on stage at a big prize giving ceremony, after a really nice afternoon spent in Tampere with Fiina ft. all the food I've been craving for a while. Rest day tomorrow is a god send, even more so to let the split knee (on the way to 8 to worsen the route even more) to heal. Refocussing on the long and relay might be the toughest task of the next two days though.

JWOC Middle Final - 7th, +2:33
Tantalisingly close to the podium - 1s to 6th, 2s to 5th, 30s to 3rd - but if this is the result of what was a really poor race in what is probably my worst discipline, then I'll happily take it. Second half promising though with a similar time to Olli after 10, but couldn't make up for 90s+ of lost time in the first 6 controls. Literally could have made the 1s margin at any point in the race though, so slightly annoyed.

Great support at run through and finish got me this close, would have been miles off otherwise! Post-race interview was also nice, and lots of positive words/messages from lots of people was really sweet and appreciated. More to give I hope.
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JWOC Middle Qualifier - MQ2 - 6th +2mins
Happy enough technically especially being the first one out on the course. Physically however absolutely spent by the start kite and really struggled on any terrain, even the tracks. Maybe down to early start but otherwise not sure what's up. Splits seem to be off too. First finisher at the end was a nice experience though.

Anyway, later start, more technical terrain and more tracks to look forward to tomorrow.
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